Mystery Rose

[pameladean]

The white rose of York bloomed copiously this year, providing great pleasure and an artless sprinkling of shed white petals in the unmown grass. Until a March snowstorm took out the bulk of the neighbors' ancient lilac, the white rose of York had been a leggy plant, with most of its leaves and bloom on top. Since the lilac went down, it's been making up for lost time with leaves all the way down the canes and many more canes. I had wondered early this spring about two of the new canes, which were exceptionally long but leafed out much later than the others. Those canes are blooming now. The roses are not white, but a deep velvety red. They are not stray canes from the nearby Henry Kelsey; the Henry Kelsey has flatter blossoms and its red has more yellow. These flowers look, in fact, just like the white rose of York, only, unaccountably, they're red.

I am not a rosarian. Does anybody know what's going on here? I'm perfectly happy with it, but I'm curious. I can't recall if this rose is own-root or grafted, but I'm fairly certain that it's the latter.

In less good news from the yard, I had to collect three dead baby rabbits and send them to their eternal rest this morning, and I was lucky not to have mown them up. Poor little guys.

In other news, the book continues to surprise me, but not as quickly as I want it to. I'm rereading all the Sue Grafton mysteries. I suggested to David and Lydy that maybe this was because my specific goal in writing this book is to have love and rhetoric without the blood, so maybe I need a bit of blood in my reading. David, however, said that Sue Grafton was so peaceful, and indeed, compared to many mystery writers (we discussed Rex Stout specifically), she is.

P.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

If it is Dr. Huey (see below) you want to prune it out; otherwise it will thrive better than the rose of York and eventually replace it.